


Substitution Principle

by artaline



Series: Substitution Principle 'verse [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Animal Death, Animal Violence, Arguing, Blood, Feelings, Harm to Animals, M/M, Magic, Magical Theory, Suicide mention, alternative episode s1e3, alternative universe, it's only a small bit but tagging extra just in case, slight gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 18:36:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17709404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artaline/pseuds/artaline
Summary: Viren will see Harrow live through the night, even if it's going to kill him





	Substitution Principle

When the door slammed shut behind him, Viren felt as if all the spite which somehow carried him through the previous encounter evaporated, leaving him empty and aching. He slid down the nearest wall, a disgusting display of weakness for anyone to see.

The ‘unique specimen’ in the basket rattled out a warning. Viren never gave the magical wildlife any names, since they were destined to be harvested for their magic, but he found it hard not to appreciate the snake for the miracle it was. The irony of his soul being, if temporarily, fed to the soulfang, forced a joyless smile onto his face. If only he could get his hands on more snakes- then perhaps he could figure out a way to prevent human souls from digestion, and actually save them from the oblivion. Not that he had any extra snakes, nor time.

He needed to find Claudia and Soren. He had not even a faintest idea what he would say to them, but he didn’t exactly have time to figure it out.

The hurried steps from the stairs made him force himself to get up. Soon, it would hardly matter for him personally, but if Harrow were to to use this body as a king, there was no need to announce to the whole world just how unreliable it was.

“How did it go?!” Claudia all but ran towards him.

A heavy weight settled in his stomach, upon realization that it was Claudia. He was glad that he wouldn’t need to look for his daughter, but there isn’t really a good way to ask your child for assistance in a suicide.

She furrowed her brow studying him.

“Claudia, I... ” he was not ready, “Can I, please, get a hug?”

She dived in closer, wrapping her arms around his chest in an embrace. They stood there, Viren trying to suppress the ugly unbecoming tears.

“Claudia, I love you and Soren very much.”

“Dad, are you okay?” she looked up at him, “Hmm, that doesn’t look okay”.

Viren took a deep breath.

“Claudia, I will need you to perform the switching spell.” He could technically try and do it himself, but there was no good reason to risk both of their souls lost to the soulfang’s appetite.

“Uh, why can’t you do it?” Claudia tilted her head in confusion.

“Because… I will be the one switching places with King Harrow.”

***

They ended up camping right there on the corridor floor, loose pieces of parchment and magical ingredients placed like game pieces on the pencil diagram of Harrow’s room. He considered moving to the office or to the library, but between the time limit he set himself and his leg, they’d spent more time backtracking than making progress on the spell.

“Okay, so the monkeypaw is you, the spider is me, and the griffon eye is King Harrow?” Claudia pointed at the items.

“Yes, and you will need to place the glyphs in a circle, to prevent the magic dissipation.” Viren was relieved that she was seemingly focused on learning the spell, rather than thinking about its goal.

“One for each primary source!”

“Exactly, and then you’ll move on to the inner-”

Behind them the throne room door opened widely, letting through the guard procession.

“Lord Viren,” his voice was less icy than before, but still devoid of the usual warmth.

“Your Highness,” Viren straightened up as much as it was possible while stretched awkwardly on the floor.

Harrow narrowed his eyes at the two of them.

“I am going to retrieve my battle sword from the armory-”

Viren almost scoffed at that. What was even the point in sharpening that other sword earlier, if he wasn’t intending to use it.

”- and make the rounds through the castle, to make sure the defences are in place.” Harrow looked at him grimmly, “And then I will retire to my room,” the summon order clear in his voice.

“I will meet you there”.

***

It pained Viren to keep his son in the dark regarding their plan, but he didn’t want Soren emotional and distracted while fighting against the moonshadow elves tonight. The aloof treatment Soren gave him stung, making Viren want to kick himself for the morning outburst, and for all the ways he failed at being a father over the years. But now there was nothing to be done. He just hoped that once everything was over, Soren could forgive him. Eventually.

He tried to push the bitter thoughts aside, as he entered the room. Claudia followed him like a shadow.

“My King,” Viren nodded carefully, basket in hands.

Harrow rose from the bed, movement menacing, like a wild beast in its lair.

“You brought that… abomination,” he said, picking up the sword.

Several sardonic replies rose in Viren’s mind, but he squashed the childish impulse. There was no reason to provoke Harrow’s temper, not now, when he was trying to save his life.

“Yes, I did,” he replied simply.

Harrow gave him a long silent look.

“Claudia, could you start on the glyphs, please?”

The proper procedure needed time and precision. Technically, a lot of the preparation could be simplified, but he hoped they still had time to do the ritual well, without unnecessary risks.

“Viren, stop.”

Viren saw Claudia hesitating in her craft, looking between them.

“Stop what, Your Highness?” Viren tilted his head just a fraction. Some part of him felt like a wooden doll on the town fair, going through the motions in the play, while being led by a puppet master.

“This!” Harrow pointed at them in a wide arc, “All of this. It’s madness and you know it.”

“I am simply following your order, sire” it took Viren all of his self control to keep the venom out of his words. He carefully set the basket on the chair, and started assembling the arcane focus in the middle of the glyph chart Claudia started constructing.

Harrow got close to him, quick and agile despite the heavy armor.

“Viren, I don’t want you to die for me.”

The admission stung like a slap.

“Well, maybe you should have said something earlier,” Viren felt his control slipping, the stress of today pressing his skull in a vicious grip, “Perhaps, when you put me on the spot in front of the whole Crownsguard,” Viren straightened up, “When you made me promise to give up my life for yours. What do you think will happen when Amaya comes and learns of this? The king is dead, and me, who swore to protect you with my life, somehow alive.”

“You could have refused,” Harrow’s jaw was stubbornly set.

“Ha!” his tone was turning alarmingly acrid, but there was no going back now. “And you could have considered the inevitable consequences of your actions, rather zoning in on a phantom retribution we might have to pay someday.” Viren took in a shuddering breath. “You are leaving Katolis without a leader, you are leaving your children to this war, and you are leaving… me.”

Viren’s vision was turning blurry, shoulders tense and shaking.

Strong arms pulled Viren close, in familiar motion, holding him gently. Harrow tilted his head, eyes set on Viren, their breaths mingling in a narrow space between them.

Viren pushed him away.

“Don’t you _dare_ ,” this was not a petty childish argument, and Viren was no longer a teenage boy. He was going to see Harrow live through the night, even if it was gonna kill him.

They stood on the far edges of the glyph chart. Viren’s breath heavy and face burning. Harrow looked at him sadly.

“Viren, I can’t let you go through with this plan of yours,” he slid his sword out of the scabbard and took a step forward.

Viren didn’t have a chance to react, as the droplets of blood hit his face.

***

The heavy wooden chair got split in half by the strike, basket crumbled on the floor like a broken eggshell. One of the soulfang’s heads got removed from the body and was lying on the floor near Viren. The other one was still convulsing, but with only small part of the body left intact it was doomed as well.

“No… no-no-no-” Viren felt lightheaded, this was all wrong. He reached out to pick up the snakes head, maybe he could-

“Viren,” Harrow caught his hand, “it’s _done_.”

All his training and studying, the many hours in the lab, for nothing. Inevitability was coming for Harrow, and he was helpless to save him.

“Viren, when the elves come, do not interfere,” Harrow shook him lightly, making Viren look up. “They are here for me, and I need you alive.”

_Don’t interfere…_

Harrow was speaking on, giving him orders, but the meaning wasn’t reaching him, words a high pitched buzzing in his head.

_Interfere…_

Somehow with a quiet precision the world’s slid back into focus, and he saw it.

He shrugged Harrow’s hand off.

“Try not to die,” Viren staggered off towards the balcony, where Claudia and the guards were looking at them wide eyed.

“Claudia, you have the primal stone, yes?”

She nodded and hastily took it out of her bag, handing it to him.

Viren unclasped his belt freeing the ingredients bag. He wouldn’t need that now.

“Summon the hounds. And the bear. Anything you think would help,”  he tossed her the bag and turned towards the guards. “Don’t just stand there, protect your king!”

He pushed past them onto the balcony.

The clouds parted, bathing the courtyard in the cold bright moonlight. The night was calm and beautiful, the kind to wander out of the city and harvest gentle night flowers at the riverbank, or perhaps to get distracted by your lover kissing you senseless.

He walked out into the circular area of the balcony and breathed in the fresh night air.

The magic was never absolute. The moon did not make the stars disappear, and the sun could not banish the moon entirely. The magical forces swayed with the perpetual motion of the celestial bodies, the strongest and closest taking charge. Tonight the moon was reigning over the world, it’s magic thick in the air, making moonshadow elves ever stronger. But not for long.

The basic spells only required a simple glyph and a trigger word to shape. Higher level spells however never came with a single blueprint. There was a pattern to the craft, but it was as much art as it was skill.

The thick low clouds were lazily crossing the sky, so he focused on them, weaving them into the spell. The wind pushing them forward was good as well, just needed a little bit more to chase the clouds into place. Then he sketched another glyph seeking and grasping at the loose droplets, shaping the clouds, filling them with more potential, until they swole over the castle like a dough left uncheck. There was no real need for the lightning nor more wind, but he could sense the quiet anticipation in the sky, and added a few - small final touches making it whole.

The sky above him was dark and perfect, waiting for his word to perform the piece he constructed.

“Tempesta maxima,” and with a snap of his fingers the sky poured.


End file.
